An illustrated series of articles from 1898 about the history, operations
and products of the Elswick Ship Building Yard. Follow the
links embedded in the text for many of the photographs mentioned in the
text and for more information on ships and navies.

Elswick Ship Building Yard - Part I

A visit to the world-famed ship-building
yards and works of Sir William Armstrong, Whitworth & Co., at
Elswick and Walker, on the Tyne, is a perfect revelation of certain of
the very greatest achievements of human genius, enterprise and
energy. The stupendous nature of the operations conducted, the
colossal forces brought to bear in the utilising and moulding of
material, and the character of the work carried on, all appeal
powerfully to the imagination and appreciative faculties of
observers. To Englishmen and British citizens especially such
establishments have peculiar attractions. In ships of war we have
our bond of security, and therefore, in illustrating Elswick - to use
the famous name for the whole establishment - and describing something
of its work and productions, we are sure of presenting a subject of
absorbing interest to our readers. In some respect Elswick is
greater than Portsmouth or Woolwich, for it combines the operations of
both, besides constructing hydraulic machinery, and turning out a vast
deal of work in which neither is engaged.

Lord Armstrong

True it is that much of "Armstrong's" construction is for
the account of foreign Governments, but the progress made and the skill
and experience acquired are there for the advantage of the
country. Of British vessels, the ill-fated "Victoria",
the "Sirius", "Spartan", "Pactolus", and
"Rattler" and the "Boomerang", "Karakatta",
"Katoomba", "Midura" and "Wallaroo" of the
Australian squadron, with several more, have been built at the Elswick
yard. We cannot but feel proud of the extent and character of the
work that Elswick has done and is doing for the world, and something
will be seen, as we go forward, of the ships that have been built or are
building in the yard for the fleets of Italy, Spain, Portugal and
Norway, as well as for the Far East and the Republics of South
America. Ships launched at Elswick were engaged in the war between
Chili and Peru and the Naval revolt in Brazil. When the struggle
between Japan and China began, it was the Elswick "Naniwa"
which sank the "Kowshing" and, with a single exception, the
ships of the flying squadron of Admiral Tsuboiat the Yalu had been built
in Armstrong's yard. Many other vessels for the same Power have
been constructed at Elswick, and the launch of the battleship "Yashima",
of which some account will be given subsequently, is illustrated
today.

Just over half a century ago there might have been seen in Newcastle
the brass plate intimating where was the office of Mr William Armstrong,
solicitor. But Mr Armstrong, though a man of the law, had already
turned his attention to hydraulic power, and had erected a crane, so
operated, on the Quayside at Newcastle, which afterwards led to the
opening of the Elswick works, where hydraulic and other machinery was
made. Such machinery, of immense power, for hydraulic
gun-mountings, dock gates, cranes, steel forging, and a multitude of
other purposes, is now both made and used at the works. Then
came the Russian war, with its lessons, leading Mr Armstrong to conduct
experiments which brought about the formation of the ordnance works at
Elswick for the manufacture of rifled breech-loading coil-built
guns. Of the "Armstrong gun" something shall be said
later on. Its inventor, afterwards Sir William, and now the
venerable Lord Armstrong, became so famous a gunmaker, that he was
invited to take charge of the department of rifled ordnance at Woolwich,
an office he held until 1863. For many years War Office guns were
made at Elswick, and now the Armstrong Company is in the very forefront
of all gun builders. Some of its most remarkable constructions in
this line will be illustrated subsequently. Thus, if we described
Elswick historically, we should deal with hydraulic machinery and
ordnance first. Ship-building was added later, and the
amalgamation of Elswick and Walker was a fine stroke of
administrative power. But the earliest vessels were built at
Walker - the "Giovanni Bausan" for Italy, and the first "Esmeralda"
for Chili. She is here pictured under the name of "Idzumi",
which she received from the Japanese, who bought her in 1895. The "Idzumi"
may be described as the prototype of the modern cruiser. At the
time of her building in 1884 she steamed at 18.3 knots and was the
swiftest vessel afloat. But Japan had already bought from the same
Power the "Tsukushi", launched at Walker in 1882, under the
name of "Arturo Prat".

In January, 1883, Sir William (then Mr) White, the present
distinguished Director of Naval Construction at the Admiralty, took
entire charge of the creation, equipment and work of the new shipyard to
be laid down at Elswick. "When I went to Elswick", he
said, "it was a mudbank on the river-side ; when I came away
(September 1885) we had the "Victoria" very largely in frame,
and we had built and launched several vessels." The Italian
"Piemonte" (2,500) tons) was also the fastest vessel afloat
when she was launched in 1888. The "Yoshino",
which the Japanese found invaluable at the Yalu, was a further
improvement, with her displacement of 4,180 tons, her speed of over 23
knots, and her heavy armament of quick-firers. We shall next
illustrate the tremendous machinery at Elswick for forging
steel.

Commander in chief of the Channel Squadron with Staff on
Board HMS Majestic 1896.

Vice-Admiral Sir H F Stephenson (second from left) who commanded
the Channel squadron in 1896. On his left is Flag-Captain H.S.H
prince Louis of Battenburg. and to his right is Staff Paymaster
Gilles and far right is Flag-Lt Everett. Vice admiral Stephenson
served during the Crimean War with the fleet in the Baltic and Crimea.
also serve din the 2nd China war and was with peel's brigade in the Indian
Mutiny. he also Captained a gun-boat on the Canadian lakes during the
Fenian disturbances in 1866. He was the captain of the Discovery
in the Arctic expedition of 1875-76 and lastly before commanding the
Channel fleet he in the Egyptian Campaign of 1882. In 1898 he was
one of the youngest vice admirals at the age of 55.

Public attention was never more largely directed to the adequacy and
extent of our resources for the production of guns and armour than it is
today. This is well, for it must not be forgotten that unless the
Government works were supplemented by private enterprise and capital, it
would be impossible to have built up such a splendid Navy as we now
possess. Perhaps nothing is so well calculated to impress the
visitor to the smelting and forging works at Elswick with the exceeding
magnitude of the forces of Nature applied to the uses of man, as his
inspection of the huge furnaces and the enormous forging presses which
are employed in the production of steel. The operations conducted
at Elswick are really stupendous, and the plant employed colossal in
size and power.

The steel works are all built upon a series of terraces between the
Carlisle branch of the North-Eastern Railway and the River Tyne, have a
length of 1100 ft, and cover an area of about 50,000 square yards.
The slope from the railway to the river is sharp, but what might at
first have seemed a disadvantage has been turned to profit, for the
works have been so arranged that the raw material is tipped on the
highest level behind the furnaces, into which it is thence
"charged" by cranes. Into the very interesting process
of steel manufacture it is impossible to enter here. The melting
plant comprises eight furnaces, which are capable of turning out a
weekly average of upwards of 1200 tons of steel of various descriptions,
principally, however, that made by the Siemens-Martin process, which is
very largely employed in the manufacture of ordnance and the parts of
ships and machinery. All the gas for the various furnaces and
stoves is generated by gas producers built conveniently near, and, when
the steel has been brought to the desired character, the
"charge" in the furnace is "tapped" and the molten
steel flows into the huge ladle provided, and is carried by cranes of
enormous power to the adjacent moulds. The cranes, which are
numerous and varied in design, to suit the different purposes for which
they are intended, are an interesting feature of the steel works.
Especially noticeable are the powerful travellers, made at the works,
which are operated by hydraulic force, and rapidly manipulate the
red-hot steel in process of casting and forging, turning it in any
direction, advancing or withdrawing it at the touch of a lever, ready to
the hand of the forgeman, whose position is on the floor near the
forging blocks.

Large Press Working on Red Hot Ingot

To this level the steel descends in the form of ingots, to be forged
by the hydraulic presses into hoops and barrels for ordnance, shafting
(hollow or solid) for vessels, and a hundred other purposes.
Elswick is famous for its propeller shafting, which has been supplied
for British and foreign warships and the largest mail boats upwards of
80ft in length. Single ingots have been cast weighing as much as
75 tons, and to deal with these it will be readily understood that
extraordinary appliances are necessary. For forging them there are
four principal hydraulic presses, the largest of which exerts a pressure
of 5,000 tons, and works the largest and hardest pieces to any shape
required. Pressure is supplied by five pairs of Corliss pumping
engines, each of 1,000 horse power, and there are many smaller engines
for hydraulic cranes and driving machinery.

In addition to the ingot casting department there is a special
foundry for castings for gun carriages, marine work, electrical and
general machinery and anchors, and here some of the largest stem and
stern posts and rudder frames now afloat have been made. The
equipment of the steel department - which alone employs 1,500 hands -
also includes the heaviest machine tools for turning and boring
forgings, and cutting ingots and forgings into desired lengths.
But the illustrations show the enormous character of the equipment,
while one illustrates the old machine shop for pumping engines and
hydraulic machinery - the first erected at Elswick.

For several years the great steel works were under the direction of
the late Colonel Dyer, who recently died at Manchester after having
played his part as the life and soul of the Employers Federation during
the engineering dispute. He had superintended Sir Joseph
Whitworth's ordnance works there before going to Elswick, and returned
to take charge of the Manchester branch when the great concerns of
Armstrong and Whitworth were amalgamated. It has ever been the
good fortune of Sir William Armstrong to find able coadjutors in his
work, some of whom we may yet speak. A portrait of one of the
prominent chiefs of Elswick is given today. For many years the
active direction of the Elswick ordnance works centred in Sir Andrew
Noble, now the vice chairman of the company, who joined it in
1860. Sir Andrew Noble has gained a worldwide reputation, in
Association with Sir Frederick Abel, by his researches into the
composition and properties of explosives, and the development of rifled
ordnance owes much to him.

A few words may now be said about the South American ships
illustrated here. The "Quinze de
Novembro", once the "Republica", is a cruiser of
1,300 tons, launched at Elswick in 1892, interesting as having played a
notable part in the Brazilian revolt. The Argentine "Nueve
de Julio" took the water in the same year, but is larger (3,570
tons), of 22.75 knots speed, and has a powerful quick-firing
armament. The Chilian "Blanco
Encalada", of 4,400 tons, and the same speed, launched in 1893,
is remarkable for her great armament. The two last named are
noteworthy cruisers, though not quite the finest achievements of Elswick
in this line.

Extract taken from "Navy and Army Illustrated", April
16th 1898.

A Huge Machinery Shop at Elswick

No.16 Shop Making Torpedo Discharge Tubes

6a Shop - Guns Going Through the Browning Process

Elswick Ship - Building Yard. Part III

The importance of handicraft is a subject that has occupied the
attention of the society of art and of Sir W B Richmond during the
present week. Nowhere can handicraft and machine work be seen so
well wedded together as at the Elswick ship-building yard. We
shall now contemplate the ship as a creation - the greatest outcome, as
has been well said, of the human intellect, working in multitudinous
channels towards a common end. We have, appropriately,
illustrations of the "Yashima" and of the new
"Esmerelda"
for an accompaniment, because the battleship is the finest vessel yet
built at Elswick, and the cruiser the latest achievement of her class,
and because the Naval development of Japan - in which the Armstrong
yards are taking the greatest part - is one of the most considerable
factors in the international politics of the present day. A still larger
battleship, of upwards of 15,000 tons, the armoured cruiser "Asama",
of 9,750 tons, being the first cruiser afloat really fit to take her
place in the line of battle, with two sisters; the "Takasago",
4,150 tons (actually ready), and a sister, of the "Yoshino"
class, with exceptional speed - these are the vessels the Elswick
Company is now building and completing for the Japanese Navy. The
establishment at Low Walker - "Mitchell's " it was always
called - five miles below Elswick on the Tyne, had been in existence
many years when the latter yard was created. Sir William White,
the distinguished Director of Naval Construction, was really its
creator, but he resigned his office in September, 1885, and during many
years his accomplished successor, Mr Watts, director of the Elswick ship
building departments, has been designing and superintending the building
of the magnificent cruisers that have given the yard its world-wide
fame. But to describe the successive steps in the construction of
a war ship is impossible, and perhaps unnecessary here. The
character and purpose of the vessel, the conditions of structural
strength, stability, sea-going qualities, speed, coal endurance,
draught, accommodation, armament, and other features involved are
embodied in the design. The ship is laid off to her full size in
the mould-loft, and the working drawings and specifications for plates,
armour, and structural parts are prepared. The keel is laid and
the ribs are bent, and the structural work of framing and plating,
fixing the stem and stern posts, laying the decks, and building the
material into the hull, goes on. Thus is all made ready for the
reception of machinery, armour plating and ordnance, and for the final
completion of the vessel, the launch taking place in the course of the
work at a period of its advancement determined by the circumstances of
the case. The "Yashima", which is illustrated, and of
the launch of which we have already published a picture, is a very
splendid example of the work done at Armstrong's yard. her special
character is well seen in the picture of her as she passes the swing
bridge on the Tyne. What would the legionaries of Hadrian have
thought - who raised at Newcastle, at the Pons Aelii, where the swing
bridge is, an altar to Neptune in thankfulness for delivery from the sea
- if they could have seen the "Yashima" steam down the
Tyne? Resembling our own "Magnificent" and
"Majestic", she had somewhat smaller displacement (12,320 ton)
and better speed. She is heavily protected, and powerfully
armed. Four 12-in guns are coupled in the barbettes. These
are of 45 calibre, and, with a smaller charge of cordite, have a higher
velocity than our 40-calibre gun. Ten 6-in quick firers, and
twenty four lighter pieces, besides a bow torpedo tube and four
submerged ejectors, complete the armament. The new "Esmerelda"
represents a late development of the cruiser class. This splendid
cruiser carries a more powerful armament than any other afloat, combined
with a belt defence of 6-in Harveyed armour, and a speed of over 23
knots. The armament comprises two 8-in breech loaders, practically
quick firers, and sixteen 6-in, eight 12-pounders and two
3-pounders. In a later article we shall describe and illustrate
these powerful pieces.

Extract from "The Navy and Army Illustrated Vol. VI"
(April 30nd 1898)

Elswick Ship - Building Yard. Part IV

The very eager competition among would be buyers to induce the
Chilian Government to part with its splendid armoured cruiser "Almirante
O'Higgins" lends interest to the picture of the launch of that
ship. The House of Commons laughed a few weeks ago when Mr Goschen
mentioned the name of O'Higgins, but he was a very gallant admiral
nevertheless, hailing of course from the Emerald Isle, greatly valued in
Chilian Naval annals, and who has already given to an old barque, built
in the Thames in 1866, and now fitted for the Chilian torpedo
service. The new ship will rank high among those splendid vessels
designed by Mr Watts, and launched at the Elswick yard. It is not
easy to distinguish between a cruiser like this and a battleship.
Our own new vessels of the "Cressy" class fall into this
category, and the "Asama",
launched not long ago at Elswick, and the "Tokiwa"
and another Japanese sister now building there, are also examples.
The "O'Higgins" is a
peculiar instance of the difficulty, for she appears to have the
offensive and defensive qualities of a battleship. She displaces
8,500 tons, and carries four 8in breech loaders, and the following quick
firing armament : Ten 6in, four 4.7in, eight 40 calibre 12 pounders, two
of 23 calibres, and ten 6 pounders, besides four machine guns, and she
has an 18in torpedo tube in the stem, and one submerged on each
broadside. All the larger guns are either in casemates or gun
houses, covered with six or seven inches of Harveyed armour, and there
is a long belt of the same. Very notable points of this ship are
her high speed of 22 knots, and the power of her end-on fire, the guns
being so placed that she can concentrate right ahead two 6in, two 4.7in,
six 12 pounder and two 6 pounder guns, and right astern one 8in, four
6in, two 4.7in, six 12 pounder and two 6 pounder guns. This ship
will be the most important in the Chilian Navy, and is to be completed
within eighteen months of the date of the order for building.

Some other pictures illustrate further the methods and processes of
ship building. No 7 shop, for example, which is 300ft long, with a
centre bay and two side bays, has two travelling cranes, each capable of
lifting fifty tons, and others smaller. Here, in the foreground,
may be observed circular gun houses for the Norwegian battleship "Tordenskjold"
(sister of "Harald
Haarfagre", completed not long ago); to plate shields for gun
houses; behind, again, twin mountings for the Brazilian ship "24 de
Maio" - the same which, under the name of "Aquidaban",
was torpedoed and sunk in shallow water during the Brazilian revolt -
and between these and the armoured circular shield, some of the 8in
mountings and their protective armour intended for the "O'Higgins".
In the right foreground, under the platform, may be seen cages for the
ammunition hoists of our own battleships "Mars"
and "Jupiter", and powder
cases for Japanese battleships. The
shop is mainly devoted to the manufacture and erection of turn tables
and mountings of heavy guns.

The works of building and fitting war ships is carried on at Elswick
in every detail, and nothing is wanting to the completeness of the
works. No 29 Shop is one of the most important in the whole
establishment. Here are portions of gun houses - curved plates
ready for machinery - parts of gun cradles, recoil cylinders, roller
paths and roller rings, on which gun turn tables revolve, and many other
appliances connected with guns, all shown in various stages of
manufacture. For the facility of moving such heavy weights, great
cranes driven by power, and capable of lifting twenty tons, are
provided. Another part of the same shop is devoted to the fitting
of dynamos and electric light projectors. The Argentine cruiser
"Buenos Aires", which is illustrated, is quite one of the most
interesting vessels ever built at Elswick. She displaces 4,780
tons, and carries two 8in guns, which are virtually quick firers, and
six 4.7in, sixteen 3 pounder and six 1 pounder guns properly so
described. She was launched in 1895, and obtained the
unprecedented speed of 23.2 knots on her trial trip with natural
draught.

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